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A federal commission investigating the BP (BP) Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster, issued a scathing report today, saying BP and its cement contractor Halliburton (HAL) knew that test results for the cement to be used as a plug for the bottom of the oil well showed the cement was unstable, according to a letter that lead investigator Fred Barlit has given to the commission, The New York Times reported.

According to the letter, Halliburton conducted four tests on the cement slurry, two in February and two in April. One of the February reports was provided to BP in March, but there was no indication that Halliburton flagged the foam stability data and no indication BP raised questions about the results. The second February test also produced results that showed the cement slurry would be unstable.

In the letter, Barlit notes:

We have known for some time that the cement used to secure the production casing and isolate the hydrocarbon zone at the bottom of the Macondo well must have failed in some manner. That cement should have prevented hydrocarbons from entering the well. For a variety of technical reasons that we will explain at the upcoming hearing, BP cemented the well with a nitrogen foam cement recommended and supplied by Halliburton. Halliburton generated the nitrogen foam cement by injecting high pressure nitrogen into a base cement slurry as it pumped that slurry into the well.

That Macondo well exploded on April 20, killing 11 workers, spewing 4.9 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, creating widespread damage to the ecosystem along the Gulf Coast and creating billions of dollars of economic damage to the region's fishing, shellfish and tourism industries.

One April test was performed seven days before the BP Deepwater Horizon blowout and again yielded unstable results, according to the commission. Barlit noted that the results of this failed test were reported internally within Halliburton by at least April 17, but it's not clear whether they were shared with BP.

Halliburton then conducted a fourth test that finally yielded results that the foam slurry looked stable, but Barlit isn't certain whether the test was conducted before or after the cement mixture was poured down the well. In his most stinging note, he points out: "Halliburton may not have had -- and BP did not have -- the results of that [successful] test before the evening of April 19, meaning that the cement job may have been pumped without any lab results indicating that the foam cement slurry would be stable."

Shares of Halliburton plummeted as much as 16.2% in intraday trading to $28.86, before closing down around 7.5%. In an email, Cathy Mann, spokeswoman for Halliburton said: "We continue to review today's report from the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling and will publish a response later today."

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friendlykenn

So far, Halliburton has stolen millions, given bad food and water to the troops and caused electrocutions of soldiers by bad plumbing --- and NOTHING has happened to them!! We're still giving them contracts. Why should anyone think it will be different this time? They're protected by very powerful people (their former CEO Chaney??). This sleazy corporation willogo on doing sleazy things and nothing will EVER happen to them! Unfortunately, that's the way our "world goes around" these days!!!!

Cheney didnt get any money from Halliburton in blind trusts. What BS. Also Halliburton is a company who does things no other company can do whihc is why they get no bid contracts ( cost plus contracts for those who dont know ). Halliburton was the company who retreived the dead Russian saliors from the sunken submarine in the Northern Atlantic.

Halliburton - the same company who distributed tainted food and water to our troops in Iraq. No bid contracts over and over while people said they "were the only ones who could do the job". Of course this was total BS and Dick Cheney still had ties to the company with money pouring into blind trust funds while serving as VP. This company should be fined beyond measure for its practices!

January 30, 2004: New York Times columnist, Bob Herbert, details how Halliburton evades U.S. taxes and export bans by establishing foreign subsidiaries. Halliburtonâs Wendy Hall admits the company paid only $15 million in taxes in 2002 even though the company earned $339 million in profits from continuing operations and $12.5 billion in total revenue.

One more thing that I want to say. All of you people that want to blame Obama for all of these problems doesn't have any idea what they are talking about. Yes it was unfortunate that 9-11 happened on Bush's watch but he didn't do anything to help our country.We are still at war and still have all kinds of problems here in the US. All conservatives think that Obama should have everything that Bush screwed up fixed in less than 2 years of his presidency. Like many smart people have said It took us 8 years to get us into this mess and it's going to take more than a year to get out of this. Just think about what I have said and tell me want you think. I want to hear all sides

I saw the news on Haliburton's stock falling this morning. Does anyone know how much money that BP supposedly set aside has been released ? I would love to know. See It all comes full circle. Dick Cheney keeps on stepping in **** and comes out smelling like a rose. We will see what happens when this whole thing turns out